Glaucoma and Community Optometry

Caroline Dinenage Excerpts

Tuesday 30th April 2024 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I want to place on the record the fact that a month ago I made my first visit to Belfast. I had an incredible time meeting Members of the Assembly at Stormont, and going to Harland & Wolff, around Belfast and to an inclusive school. It is a remarkable place, and I just wanted to add, as the hon. Gentleman is putting on the record that everyone else has been to Northern Ireland, that so have I—although I know that is not the subject of our discussion, Dame Caroline.

[Dame Caroline Dinenage (in the Chair)]

Order. I gently remind Members that, charming as it is to hear about Northern Ireland—we are all wildly in favour of going there at every available opportunity—this is a debate on glaucoma.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Stephenson]

NHS England is looking at a range of different interventions across the country. One of the benefits we have across England, and of course across the United Kingdom, is that we can try different things, such as models of delivery, in different parts of the United Kingdom and learn lessons from one another.

The current strategy pursued by the NHS is to look at different programmes across England and evaluate them to see what delivers the best outcomes for patients. That will help us to improve access for patients and deliver quality treatment. We hope that that evaluation will enable us to suggest best practice. It will still be up to ICBs to commission services—we believe they should be commissioned locally—but we hope that by providing an evidence base for them they can take decisions in the best interests of their local communities. To address the point made by the shadow Minister, that will address the growing demand for services. We recognise the fact that there will be more demand in the years to come. It will also help to address some of the backlogs with which we have struggled since the pandemic.

I hope I have said a few things to convince the hon. Member for Strangford that, while we still have much to learn from Northern Ireland, the Government take glaucoma extremely seriously. Community optometry is helping us manage the flow of glaucoma patients and it is already deployed effectively in many areas across the country to support patients.

We should be under no illusion about how many people watch Parliamentlive.tv. I think it was Stanley Baldwin who once said that the best way to keep a state secret was to announce it on the Floor of the House of Commons. Nevertheless, I wish to end with an appeal to anyone watching this debate at home: remember to take an eye test and please check the NHS website to see whether you are eligible for help. In preparing for today’s debate, I decided to do just that and I will be having my eyes tested tomorrow morning.

[Dame Caroline Dinenage (in the Chair)]

That is good to know; thank you very much. I call Jim Shannon to wind up the debate.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the Minister. That appeal was a wonderful way to end this debate. I began the debate today by asking that we move towards measures to getting more people tested. The Minister has just done that. He has thrown out a challenge to everyone across this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to do just that.

My hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) is well aware, as I am, of the merits of what we do in Northern Ireland, of the investment that optometrists are making personally and the need to work together. I am encouraged by the helpful contributions of the Minister, the shadow Minister and my hon. Friend.

The hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) referred to the fact that routine glaucoma testing can save eyesight. We all know that, and that is the purpose of the debate. We need more people to take the test—that is the purpose of the debate. The response from the Minister outlined a plan. I loved the term the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish used when he referred to turbocharging access to ophthalmology services. Wow! That is exactly what we need: a turbocharger. The Minister, in his response, turbocharged the challenge of eye tests and optometry.

The hon. Member for Denton and Reddish also referred to Labour’s commitment to making eye care a priority, which I welcome. I think that is where we are, and that that will follow hard on what the Minister and the Government are doing. The hon. Gentleman also referred to the 6,000 opticians on the high street with whom we can have a better partnership, and he stated that inaction was not an option—how true that is. He said that it was important to ensure there was not a postcode lottery, and he said that Labour would act.

The Minister always tries to be helpful, positive and proactive in his responses. That is what I like in any Minister, and it is what I particularly like about this Minister. It is helpful to have something to be encouraged by. The Minister has grasped the modus operandi of the debate, and why it is important, even though the subject is not in his portfolio. He referred to the need for people to have an eye test every two years, and said that the Government were working with high street opticians to ensure ICB involvement. He also said that the Government were pushing to increase the number of ICBs engaged with that. He said that the pandemic had created some problems, but also referred to an increase in cataract surgery. I think that is positive. Another positive that is sometimes forgotten, to which the Minister referred, is research. Well done, Minister and well done to the Government.

The Minister referred to £5 million of pioneering technology from the United Kingdom. We lead, across the world, in relation to that. He also referred to a new model within the NHS: proactive, progressive ICB best practices.

Today, we have been encouraged by the Minister. We are very pleased with his response. I can tell people who watch this debate on Parliamentlive.tv or who read Hansard—people will get copies from me in my constituency —and want to know what we are doing that we do not need to do anything really expensive. We just need to be proactive.

I look forward to the implementation of the plan to which the Minister referred, and I very much welcome the turbocharged priority that the shadow Minister and his party are prepared to give to the issue. I thank you, Dame Caroline, as always, for your chairship. You make so much of these debates and we appreciate that.

[Dame Caroline Dinenage (in the Chair)]

Thank you very much.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered glaucoma and community optometry.